Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

  They’re gone.

  They’re all gone.

  And now he’s stuck living with Vlad of all people.

  If he’s being at all honest with himself, it’s not as bad as he thought. Lately he’s toned down on the whole “I want you to be my son” thing. Except he kinda is now. He doesn’t see Vlad all that much, with him busy being the mayor of Amity Park and having to deal with the “Accident” that was the cause of him being here in the first place.

  Of course he’s still not over it. That’s why he’s locked himself inside his room in Vlad’s mansion for the past few months. 

  Until Vlad walked into his room one day and told him that he has to at least go back to school so he “doesn’t fall behind on his studies”, as Vlad said.

  Danny doesn’t want to go back to Casper High. It just won’t feel the same without his best friends by his side. 

  Vlad seemed to realize this at some point. So he sends him to a school out of state. A school where he can, “be more himself”, as Vlad put it.

  ‘He’s almost a cryptic as Clockwork’ Danny thought with an eye roll.

  So that leads us to now.

  In the woods.

  In the middle of nowhere. 

  “What are you playing at Vlad?” Danny asks the man that led him here.

  “Patience Daniel. You will see.” He says as he holds his hand out in front of him. As he walks further forward, his hand touches something, revealing itself to be an invisible barrier. Vlad taps into his ghostly powers and turns himself intangible, walking right through the wall. 

  After a moments of hesitation, Danny follows along, walking through to the other side of the barrier. 

  Danny paused, taking in what he sees before him. The school looks like it was build like a castle. Many smaller buildings in the same style surround a large open area, while all of it is surrounded by trees.

  “How did you even find this place?” Danny asked staring up at the man.

  “I stumbled across it when I was out for a midnight flight.” Vlad says taking a moment to glance at Danny before returning his gaze back to the castle (That is true, he did find it on a night he couldn’t sleep and for some odd reason he just felt like flying, specifically in that direction, but he ended up crashing face first into the barrier, breaking his nose in the process. In his defence, he couldn't see it.)

  “So your sending me to school here.”

  “Yes, I thought that was quite obvious.” Vlad answered as he started to walk towards the school.

  “What’s this place even called?”

  “Supernatural Academy.”

  “Are you serous?”

  “Dead.” Vlad replied with a smirk without breaking his stride.

  Danny gave him a flat look. “Ghost puns are supposed to be my thing.” He mumbled to himself, looking back out towards the direction of the school.

~~~~

  Walking up the spiral staircase to the headmasters office was quite the journey. 

  “Why is this guys office at the top of this tower!” Danny sighed exasperatedly.

  “‘This guy’ is going to be your new headmaster, which I have to talk to, to get you into this school.” Vlad explained as he turned to leave.

  Danny sighed again. “Whatever. I’ll be out here.” He mumbled to himself as he sat on the far corner of the bench.

  A few minutes later Danny hears two pairs of footsteps coming up the stair case. 

  “I haven’t been able to get online all day. Do I need a password?” A girl said as they reached the top of the stairs.

“Oh, uh, we don’t have that here.” The guy, Danny thinks that he looks like he could be the girls father, said and nodded in greeting when he noticed Danny sitting on the bench.

“Wait, what! No wifi, no 5G?”

“The cloaking spell that keeps the town hidden interferes with wireless signal. Wait here while I talk to the headmaster.” He explained as he stared leave.

“How do you text your friends?” She asked in disbelief.

“Well, you can see your friends in person” Danny nearly rolled his eyes at that, she was obviously raised in the “human world”, it wouldn’t be that easy to do that.

“My friends don’t live here.” She gritted through her teeth.

“Right,” he sighed “I’m sorry.” He turned away and walked through the doors to the headmasters office.

She sighed while dropping down to sit on the bench beside Danny.

~~~~

As Vlad walked through the doors, the headmaster was just standing from were he sat on his spiny chair.

“Ah, Vlad Masters, we meet again. What brings you to my school?” Kristov greets.

 “Headmaster Kristov, I’ve come to enrol my son.”

“Son? I didn’t know you had a son?” 

“Well, technically speaking, he is my godson. However, do to some… recent events, he had nowhere else to go. I’ve adopted him, so to speak.” Vlad explained.

They were interrupted as the door opened to reveal a man.

“Jonathan LaBron, you’ve never mentioned a second daughter.” The headmaster greets.

“She’s been living with her mother outside the boundary.”

“Ah, another student from outside the boundary. Jonathan, this is Vlad Masters, he and his son are from the human world and he wishes to enrol his son in our school. By the way, how is Lienda adjusting to Stradford after all these years? It must be quite difficult for you.” 

“We’re both focused on the girls.” Jonathan dismissed.

“Of coarse.” Kristov replied happily.

“Mischa hasn’t come into her powers yet, so I’ll be paying her tithe.”

“No powers! At 16!?” Kristov nearly yelled.

“It was probably a side affect of living among the humans for most of her life.” Jonathan guessed. But from all the years of reading people, Vlad suspected that he was lying about that.

“Hm, our upper school students are generally expected to tie their own tuitions fees.” Kristov took a minute to study Jonathan’s face, he didn’t look impressed. “But, I suppose we can make an exception.” He complied.

Jonathan sighed a breath of relief. “Thank you.”

“I believe Daniel should be able to pay his own. How does that work exactly?” Vlad questioned.

“I’ll let you know when we have Daniel. If you don’t mind me asking what powers do you two have?” The headmaster asked.

“I suppose you could say that we are both ghost shifters.” Vlad replied smugly.

“Ghost shifters!? Surely you’ve made that up.” Kristov exclaimed in disbelief.

“Ghost shifters are believed to be a part of fae legend. There has never been any kind of solid proof that they actually exist.” Jonathan explained in mild shock.

“Well,” Vlad said with a sigh, “you happen to have two in your presence.” Vlad turned to leave. Facing Jonathan he gestured to the door. “If you don’t mind.”

“No, of course not.” Jonathan said, still in slightly shocked, as he lead the way through the doors, Vlad and headmaster Kristov falling behind.

~~~~

“So… your going to school here too then?” Danny asked the girl siting infront of him.

She sighed again, “Yeah. A few days ago I never would have thought that I would be going to a magical school, or finding out that I secretly have a twin sister.”

“Wait? Magic?” Danny asked confused.

“Yeah, almost every one here can do some sort of magic.” Mischa explained.

“That would probably explain why I felt kinda weird walking here.” Danny mumbled to himself.

“If you don’t know anything about the school, then where are you from? I was told that everyone with magic lives in a boundary.”

“Is that what the invisible force field around this place is called? I’m from Amity Park, Illinois, by the way.”

“You’re from the human world! I’m am too! I’m Mischa.” The newly dubbed Mischa said holding out her hand.

“I’m Danny, sorry but I don’t really like touching other people. I’ve gotten too many complaints that I’m too cold.” Danny explained while wringing his hands together.

“Oh that’s alright.” Mischa laid her hand in her lap.

They were so caught up in their conversation with each other that they didn’t notice someone walking up behind them.

“Wild hair cut.” The new voice startled both of them. She was looking right at Mischa.

“Me?” She asked pointing to herself.

“You definitely needed a makeover, but this is a miss.” She almost sounding disgusted. Danny was about to snark something back before, when he was interrupted by the headmasters door opening to reveal Mischa’s dad, Vlad and who Danny guessed to be the headmaster.

“Elda, I see you’ve met our new students.” The headmaster said as he walked out the door.

“Eh? New?” She sounded shocked. Maybe that has to do with that twin sister Mischa mentioned.

“My daughter, Mischa.” 

“And my son, Daniel.” Vlad said as he moved to stand beside him.

“Ah, I’m headmaster Kristov.” He turned to speak to Mischa. “Your father has explained your situation. We’re happy to except you on probation until you powers come in.” Danny spotted Elda looking curiously at Mischa after that. He didn’t like the look she had in her eyes. It reminded him of when Dash learned something new about him to bully him with. 

“My daughter Elda can help you both get accumulated.” He then mock whispered to her, “Be a goodwill ambassador dear.”

“Yes father.” She said cheerily. “Come on, I’ll show you around.”

“Thanks, but we’re good.” Mischa said smoothly.

Chapter Text

  Danny followed Mischa down the staircase and through the building in search of the cafeteria. It took them a while to find, they ended up having to ask someone they found in the hall for directions.

  Danny wasn't particularly hungry, being a half-ghost did that to you. He didn't need to eat or sleep as much as regular living people need to. Apparently, Mischa was meeting up with her sister and her friends in the cafeteria.

  Now that he thinks about it the cafeteria will be full of people. He was never really good with crowds, but back then he had Sam and Tucker. They were the kind of friends that he could almost never get tired of and they always eased his mind while in large crowds. But they aren't here. They aren't here experiencing this crazy new school that had crazy amounts of different people. Ancients- the headmaster is literally green! Sure that's not that weird, but for a living, breathing person? Danny finds it a bit odd. 

  Sam would have loved it here. Being out in the middle of the woods, with almost nothing but trees and plants for miles, She'd be in some sort of plant heaven. Tucker would so hate it here. According to Mischa, there's no Wi-Fi or signal of any kind. Actually, now that he's thinking about it, his phone might work. He's barely looked at it since getting through that invisible dome, plus it works in the Zone where there is also no signal, so it might actually work here. He'll have to check it out later.

  Just as the thought crossed his mind they walked into the cafeteria and he was right, there were so many people. They were approached by a girl with blue hair and what looked to be the school uniform. 

  "How'd it go?" She asked Mischa.

  "Ok, I guess? We met the headmaster's daughter. We hate her, right?" Mischa replied to who Danny was thinking is her sister.

  "Right? The worst. Speaking of we, who's this?" She turned her attention to Danny.

  "Oh! This is Danny, we met outside the headmaster's office. He's new here too." Mischa answered and Danny gave a little wave. "Danny, this is my sister Jessa."

  "It's nice to meet you." Danny said with a small smile.

  "Well, I'll let you two get your food. Our table is under the window. See you both over there." Jessa said as she walked away to their table.

  Mischa grabbed a tray for her food, while Danny opted to hopefully just grab an apple.

  "Hey! Newbies!" They were interrupted in their browsing by an irritating voice. "Lesser Jessa and rando!" They turned around to see a mermaid in a wheelchair behind them. "It's grab and go, not stop and stare." Danny nearly growled at her before Jessa stepped in.

  "Watch it, Opal, unless you want to start something." Jessa said angrily before grabbing her sister's wrist and started to walk away with Danny following a few steps behind.

  "I was just going to help." Mischa said as they slowed down.

  "Does she look like she needs your help?" Jessa asked but her question fell on deaf ears as Mischa was looking in awe at the other students. She chuckled and shook her head fondly and led Mischa to her seat.

  She sat between her sister and a guy with dark, longish hair and two bowls full of salad. Danny sat next to a girl with long, colourful hair on his right and a person with light purple, shoulder length hair, only a few shades lighter than their skin tone on his left. He also noted that they were seated in their chair backwards.

  "You didn't get any food?" The guy with the salads asked Mischa.

  Jessa answered for her, "No, she just almost pissed off a mermaid on her first day."

  "Nice." Said the guy between salads and the person on his left, "Any bones broken?"

  "No. Also, I just met a mermaid, so there's that!" She still sounded amazed even after said mermaid insulted her.

  "Don't take it personally, they tend to be pretty grouchy on dry land." Salads explained to Mischa.

  "Oh! That reminds me." Jessa started, "Everyone, this is Danny, he just started today too and he's also from the human world. Danny, meet Terra," She gestured to the girl sitting between them, "That's Jae," She pointed to the other person next to him, "That's Brax, and this is Max."  As Jessa went around they all said their greetings. 

  Just as Jessa offered to share her loaded tray with Mischa, Jae turned to talk to him. "I couldn't help but notice that you didn't get any food either. Would you like one of my Nanaimo bars?" They moved their tray to sit between them.

  "Oh, thank you, but, I'm not all that hungry." he said apologetically with a polite smile.

  "No worries, just thought I'd offer." They smiled back and Danny took a second to look at them, then he realized with a start that they're actually really pretty. He looked down at the table at the realization. He was brought out of his thoughts at the sound of the table laughing, he just hoped it wasn't at him for some reason, he didn't think he did anything to laugh at.

  "Humans get everything wrong." Jessa said with a chuckle. Oh, it was something Mischa said then, that was a relief. 

  "Dramatic license, I guess?" Max, he thinks his name was, said. What were they talking about? "I don't have to worry about the daylight." Oh, Maybe he's a vampire then. "I do hate garlic, though." 

  Mischa laughed into her hand, "I'll have to remember that."

  Danny noticed that she still didn't have any food in front of her, she must not have taken anything from Jessa. Jae must have noticed as well as they stood and slid over their tray.

  "You can have these if you want." They said as they sat back down.

  Mischa looked from the tray to Jae, "You're sure? Thanks." She took a bite and immediately you could tell she liked it. "This is delicious! Is this special faerie food?"

  They shook their head, "Nope. It's a Nanaimo bar. I'm from Canada."

  Max started talking again but this time to both Mischa and Danny. "This place must seem pretty weird to you both. I mean, after growing up outside the boundary."

  "Sort of," Mischa began, "I mean, I've been to a lot of schools. But I've never pissed off a mermaid before, but every school has an Elda. There's always someone who feels better about themselves by telling you how ugly your hair is." She then started to play with a few strands of her hair.

  "I agree. Even though I have technically only been to one school before this, there are always bullies. Being shoved into a locker almost every day is not fun. But my town was far from normal."

  Jae was about to ask what he meant when the bell went, signalling the end of lunch.

  Everyone stood and left the cafeteria then went their separate ways. Danny chose to follow Mischa and Jessa. They were both given their schedules before they left the headmaster's tower, and as it turns out almost everyone in their year has the same classes, plus Jessa was already showing Mischa around.

  When they made it to the classroom most of the class was already full. Jessa and Mischa sat together in the front row while Danny sat in the empty seat behind Jessa.

  Mischa was once again looking around in awe. The photos hanging on the wall were changing. Danny guessed that it was the changing of subjects that were going to be taught in this period, seeing as the picture changed from science related things to popular monuments in the human world.

  "This one should be easy for you both." Jessa said after the chalkboard erased itself.

  "The homework's great." Brax leaned in from his seat beside Mischa, "Human movies, human tv shows. Have you seen Friends?" He asked in genuine curiosity.

  "You get streaming here? I thought that magic messed up the wifi?" Mischa asked instead. Brax just leaned back in his seat.

  "It's cable. Hard wired in from the nearest town."

  "This place is totally trapped in the last century." Just as she finished speaking the teacher walked into the room and the chalk levitated off the shelf and started writing on the board.

  "If you don't mind, Miss LaBron. And Miss, LaBron?" Mr. McQuarrie asked. The only way Danny knew his name was because the chalk wrote it on the board, as well as the subject, humanities.

  "Sorry, Mr. McQuarrie. This is my sister, Mischa." She gave a small wave to the teacher. "She just moved here from New York.

  "Whoa! From New York!" they all looked to see another student, a troll, Danny's mind helpfully supplied, like their teacher. "We did a unit on New York last semester." He sounded excited to be talking about it.

  Mr. McQuarrie pointedly cleared his throat and raised his stone eyebrow at the student. "It appears we have two new students today," He nodded in Danny's direction. "Mr. Masters, is it?"

  "Yeah, I guess so. I also just moved here from the human world." He said sheepishly as almost everyone's attention was on him. The troll from earlier raised his hand in excitement.

  Mr. M sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Aye, Dante, go ahead."

  "Yeah, so," He started, "I was wondering, when did they discontinue the Times Square singalongs?"

  "I'm sorry, the what?" Mischa sounded genuinely confused.

  "I think I know what you're talking about." Danny said. "By the sounds of it, you only have knowledge of the human world from movies and tv shows, right?" He looked around and a few people were nodding. "Well from what I know about New York, I don't think they ever actually had full on choreographed dances in the middle of Time Square. I think it was just for television."

  "Oh."  Oops. Danny may have accidentally hurt his feelings.

  "Is there anything that you don't get from movies and sitcoms?" Mischa asked the teacher.

  "I read human publications." Mr. M sounded done with this conversation.

  "From when? 1955?" Mischa obviously wasn't thinking about this right. Danny could understand for the most part. Amity Park was pretty much cut off from most of the world, especially after the portal opened. With all the ambient ectoplasm in the air, it made it hard for many signals to go in or out of Amity. The most they really got was a few tv and radio stations from the city closest to them.

  "Human accomplishments come and go quickly. Few are worthy of attention. We study the classics," As he was talking the chalk that was previously in his hand started to draw on the chalkboard. "Mozart, Shakespeare, Fred Astaire. The invention of flight, the splitting of an atom," He looked away from the board to address Mischa again, "the human version of magic."

  "But that's from like hundred years ago. When was the last time you even visited a human city?" Ah. There it is. Danny suspected that she might say something like that. He knew that she's probably never been around supernaturals before today, she didn't know very much about them and why they stay in hiding. The whole room gasped. "What?"

  "I have not had the pleasure." Mr. McQuarrie nearly gritted through his teeth.

  "Then why are you teaching this class?" Danny was getting secondhand embarrassment from this whole conversation, he wis- no, he wanted to be able to mentally tell Mischa to stop talking. Maybe he'll actually get the ability, he started to lose count after becoming the crown prince of the Realms.

  Mr. M crushed the chalk stick that was in his hand and only left dust. "You are excused." he said curtly.

  "Mr. McQuarrie," Jessa said as she stood from her seat, "she's new here. She doesn't know." She tried to defend then sharply turned to her sister. "Mischa, apologize!"

  "For what?" She sounded confused, "For being right?"

  Jessa looked at her in disbelief, "For being rude! Trolls can't visit the human world. Look around you," She said as she gestured to the whole room, "not everyone can pass for human like you!"

  "That's enough disruption." Mr. M cut in, "You're both excused."

  Danny watched as the sisters glared at each other before storming out of the room.

  He sighed and put his face in his hands, this is going to be a long day.

Chapter Text

  The rest of the day went smoothly. Jae helped him find their classes and his room which was across from their own. As he stepped through the door to his room, he noticed that his bags were already put in his room. 

  'Looks like Vlad brought my stuff.' Danny thought as he went over to his bed and flopped face first into his space themed pillow. ‘And made my bed. Which is kinda weird but, oh well, now I don’t have to.’ he thought with a shrug to himself as he breathed in the scent of his pillow. Ambient ecto from Vlad's mansion (different from the stuff just hanging around town, it’s a lot cleaner), the shampoo he used to wash his hair a few nights ago and the faint smell of dust most likely just from the room.

  He turned his head to the side and pulled his phone out of his pocket for the first time since leaving Amity. He knew he wouldn’t be getting any texts, maybe a one or two from Vlad asking about his day or saying good night, but as he went to go turn it on it didn’t. His phone was dead. He had the charger for it somewhere in one of his bags or he could just charge it himself with his ectoplasm. 

  Danny sighed and buried his head back in his pillow before getting up, setting his phone on the dresser then scrounging through his bags in search of his pajamas. After changing and then realizing he didn’t remember where Jae said the bathrooms were, he crawled into bed, buried himself under his blankets, closed his eyes and thanked the universe that the next day was the start of the weekend.

  Danny woke to the sound of people quietly walking through the hall, likely for breakfast, and the sun shining on his face. After laying in bed for a few more minutes he decided to actually get up and eat something after realizing he was starting to feel hungry. He didn’t eat lunch yesterday and barely had anything for supper.

  After changing into some regular clothes, Danny slowly made his way to the cafeteria. Upon reaching said room, seeing the food selections and glancing at the giant clock on the wall, he realized that it was actually lunch. As he was slowly loading his tray (thankful there was no rude mermaid behind him this time) he thought about how long he slept. He didn’t think that he’d ever slept that long. Or that comfortably. That bed was surprisingly comfortable for a dorm room.

  Danny looked around the cafeteria after reaching the end of the lunch line. He spotted everyone from yesterday, minus Mischa, at the same table and walked over to them. 

  “Hope you don't mind if I join you guys again?” He said as he stopped in front of the table.

  “Not at all! There’s a seat right here.” Jae said, welcoming him in, “You’re our friend now- if you’ll have us?” Jae continued as they pulled out a chair beside them.

  “Oh,” Danny said thinking over what they said then he smiled, “Yeah, thank you.” He said as he sat down his tray and then himself into the offered seat. He looked around the table and saw that everyone was either done eating or almost. He felt his ears heat up in slight embarrassment at being the last one to the table, but before he could get a bite out of his food Max started talking to him.

  “Did you see Mischa on your way over here?” Danny looked up at him and then around the table to see the others' reactions to the question. Brax looked like he was about to start teasing him. Jessa looked too engrossed in whatever she was eating. Terra looked like she was wondering the same question and Jae was already looking at him waiting for the answer.

  “Um,” Danny broke eye contact with Jae to look back at Max, “No, I didn’t. I didn’t see many people when I was walking here.” Max seemed to deflate at that answer and Danny couldn’t help but feel bad about not having a better answer.

  Brax laughed and elbowed Max. “Why don’t we stop by her dorm after lunch? She’s probably just overwhelmed with everything.”

  Max rolled his eyes and rubbed his arm. “Alright.” Max then looked over to Jessa. “Hey, Jessa. Mischa’s in the dorm next to you, right?” He asked.

  “Hm?” Jessa finally looked up from her food since Danny got to the table then she rolled her eyes before answering. “Yeah, she's in the one beside me. Don’t know if she’ll really want to talk to you though.

  “Did you get into a fight with your sister already?” Terra asked, worry clear in her voice.

  Jessa scoffed. “Yeah. It was just an argument though so it’s whatever.” She dismissed and moved her tray away from her looking like she lost her appetite. 

—

  After lunch, everyone went off to do their own things. Danny went back to his dorm to do some unpacking. He didn’t bring a lot of things. He didn’t have a whole lot at Vlad’s anyway, especially after…  what happened. Danny didn’t like to think about it. 

  By the time he finished putting his clothes away and decorating with the little amount of stuff he had, he realized that it was already dark. 

  Danny left his room with a need to go stargaze. He hadn't been since… before- Man, he was thinking about this a lot. He’s probably just homesick. That’s why he was going out to see the stars. As he stepped out the door to leave the dorm building he looked up in hopes of getting a glimpse of the sky before finding a cozy spot on the grass only to be met with gray clouds. The sky was covered in clouds and it didn't look like they were going to go away any time soon. 

  Reluctantly, Danny still looked to find a patch of grass nearby with a clear view of the sky to lay down on. After finding an area not too far from the school but far enough that the trees surrounding him prevented him from seeing the school, he laid down in the middle on his back. He thought about the wonders of having x-ray vision at that moment so he could actually gaze up at the stars. 

  Danny closed his eyes and tried to imagine what the stars would look like if it weren’t for the clouds. He laid like that for a few minutes before sighing, opening his eyes and staring back up at the gray sky.

  He couldn’t help but feel sad. Sad that the one thing he could possibly do to help with his space obsession was taken away from him. He may have two obsessions, but that doesn’t mean he can survive off only one of them. But who is he supposed to protect out here?

  Who could possibly be in enough danger that Danny could satisfy his obsession? Maybe he could protect people in other ways? There’s gotta be a few bullies here right? It’s only natural that a school has a few.

  He doesn’t think that he has the skills to psychically help people. Plus, he’s no Jazz- He also wants to stop thinking about this now. 

  Danny squeezed his eyes shut again then rolled onto his side. He let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding before opening his eyes to look through the trees. Blinking a few times to clear the water out of his eyes (he doesn’t know when he started crying), he spots something moving towards him. 

  He sat up as the figure got closer to him and now that he could see them more clearly he recognized the figure, it was Jae.